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Ocala
Friday, March 29, 2024

19-year-old with no license runs stop sign, flees from corporal

A 19-year-old man was arrested after he fled from a Marion County Sheriff’s Office corporal who had observed him running a stop sign on SE 28th Street in Ocala.

On Wednesday, shortly after 9:20 p.m., the MCSO corporal observed a tan Jeep that failed to stop at a posted stop sign in the 5200 block of SE 28th Street in Ocala. The corporal activated the patrol vehicle’s emergency lights and attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the Jeep proceeded to accelerate, according to the arrest report.

The MCSO report stated that the Jeep turned south onto 55th Avenue and then onto SE 28th Lane. The corporal noted that the Jeep almost veered off the roadway in the 5400 block of SE 28th Lane, and the vehicle continued traveling on SE 28th Lane until it entered a parking lot located in the 5300 block.

Shortly after the Jeep entered the parking lot, the driver – identified in the report as Sedrick Bernard Bryant, Jr. – exited the vehicle while it was still moving. He then ran into a nearby apartment, and a juvenile passenger inside the Jeep managed to stop the vehicle before it struck a tree.

Sedrick Bernard Bryant, Jr.
Sedrick Bernard Bryant, Jr.

The corporal spoke with the three juvenile passengers in the Jeep who advised that they had no idea why Bryant had refused to stop the vehicle. The passengers also told the corporal that they kept telling Bryant to pull over while he was fleeing, according to the MCSO report.

The corporal noted in the report that Bryant eventually opened the door to the apartment he had entered, and he was detained in handcuffs. A computer search of Bryant was conducted, which revealed that he has never possessed a Florida driver’s license.

After being read his Miranda rights, Bryant told the corporal that he was “going to get weed for his brother,” and he advised that he ran from the corporal because he was “just coming home,” according to the MCSO report.

During the post-Miranda interview, the corporal noted that Bryant “continued to argue about not fleeing from law enforcement.” Bryant admitted that he did not have a driver’s license, and he acknowledged that juvenile passengers had been inside the Jeep while he was driving it.

Bryant was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where he is currently being held on $17,500 bond. He is facing felony charges for fleeing to elude a law enforcement officer with disregard to persons or property and neglecting a child without great bodily harm (three counts).

In addition, Bryant is facing misdemeanor charges for operating a motor vehicle without a valid license and resisting an officer without violence.

A court date has not been scheduled yet, according to jail records.